The National Award ceremony was not attended by several awardees who alleged there had been a breach of tradition in handing over the awards as leaders other than the President would be involved.

The New Leam Staff

The National Award Ceremony has been skipped by 65 Awardees who refused to attend the event when they were informed at the last hour that they would not be awarded by the President. The Awardees have stated that the custom was that the President used to hand over the awards but this year the custom is being broken had stated that the President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive at 5.30pm to the venue and in the meantime Smriti Irani, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Narendra Kumar Singh will give a large number of awards beginning at 3.30pm.

The Awardees were informed that eleven awardees will be given the award by the President and the rest by other minsters- the boycott of the ceremony was chosen to be their protest. The manner in which the award ceremony was boycotted has surprised many people and may also be seen in a negative light.

But the important thing to speak about at this time is that in ceremonies like these often many unknown talents are neglected and only films or fields of art and cinema that get attention of the media find their mention in such events.

The need of our times is also to acknowledge the work of several actors, musicians, cinematographers who have given their lives to the field of cinema but have never received any attention from the government and the media. It is significant that we acknowledge that these talents and voices have to be recognized and ceremonies such as these are made more democratic and inclusive in nature.

Several actors and directors are associated with this award but what also becomes important for us to understand is that cinema or art require the hard work and labour of many individuals who do their parts with great dedication in order to make a project successful.

A film cannot be a masterpiece only because the actor delivers well, the cinematographer, the sound director the spot boy are equal recipients of its appreciation and critique. The way the award ceremonies determine and deny talent has to be redefined with sincerity and fresh insight.